Impossible survival type situation:

I've been lurking this site for some months. I like the discussion here. This is something that I've seen discussed on various blogs and other sites of late, none of which are survival oriented and I'm very curious about what some of ya'll think.

You're suddenly whisked back in time to 1000 AD, somewhere in Western Europe. You have no time to prep, nothing with you but the clothes on your back. What do you do to survive? Think about not only for the first few days/weeks, but sustained, life long survival.

Couple points to keep in mind that I've picked up from other discussions:
You're likely to be much taller than average. You're also going to have immaculate teeth. No scars of any kind... you're going to stick out like a turd in a punch bowl more than likely. Your clothes will be unlike any have ever seen, not just the stich and style but the fabric, colors, etc. Simply blending in will be next to impossible at first.

Even if you're currently able to speak one or more of the languages in Europe today, it won't translate to 1000 AD. The only language anyone would be able to understand is Latin and only the clergy/nobles will be able to speak that.

If you're circumcised, you won't be able to fake it as a christian/catholic.

If you're a woman, well, you basically could either become a prostitute or a nun. You might get lucky enough to find a free peasant type guy to marry.

Discuss!

Welcome.

I think the first thing you do not try to do is meld into society, because you both cannot and also because when you are speaking of what is essentially the Dark Ages, people are very wary of strangers moving into their small little towns and villages.

So, if you are not joining a village, then you are trying, at first to lead an existence somewhat like a hermit. Are we many of us capable of this? Probably not, but what else do we have? If you walk into a village and say hello, they are likely to do you harm. If you are in the area of a small village, then perhaps after they become aware fo your existence, you can begin some social interaction. It's not going to happen quickly. The one thing that you'd be best doing is trying to learn how to implement and demonstrate some low level increases in the level of technology you can show those you do see.

Where you decide to try to lead such an existence, you'd be better off if you know something related to the language. You cannot speak their Old English, even reading Middle English requires a translation and then some struggle, but knowing modern English is closer to speaking that then trying to think you can learn ancient Hungarian.

Flip your tricorder open and say: - Beam me up, Scotty!
If it doesn't work, try becoming a saint in the local religion.

Welcome Newguy!

I suspect that back then, unless you were a high up muckety muck, you pretty much practiced what we call "survival" every day, just to, well, survive...

Read 1632 by David Weber - It essentially puts a small town in that situation. SM Sterling also has a series about an entire town moving back to about 600BC I believe.

For a single person, my guess is they'd be dead in a short time. Strangers were not all that welcome back then.

I go down in history as the single greatest scientist the world will ever know, and guys like Leonardo da Vinci, Isaac Newton, Leonhard Euler, Charles Darwin, Nicolaus Copernicus, Louis Pasteur, James Watt, Nikolaus Otto, Albert Einstein, and the Wright brothers all find other things to do with their lives.

Jim

"Pigmaei gigantum humeris impositi plusquam ipsi gigantes vident" (If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants) - Sir Isaac Newton, in a letter to Robert Hooke, dated February 5, 1676

There was a macgeyver episode on that, season 7 I believe...What do you mean I wouldn't be able to speak their language?? I can kind of speak latin...Ive been taking it for 2 years! Im not really much taller than avarage because I am only 14 so im still 5' 7"...and have tons of scars.

and WELCOME newguy!!

Simple, I look for a house, town quarter or ghetto with Mezzuzahs on the front door. I run up, knock , and say 'HELP! those crazy christians are trying to kill me! A woman lets you in, takes one look at your skinny frame and feeds you. Worked in the 60s after my parent's divorce in a staunchly RC and conservative protestant nieghborhood when all my former friends started beating me up after shcool. 6 weeks of Aunt Yola's cooking and I was beating them up.

Sort of a Planet of the Apes problem of techno-man dropped in a primitive world.

My eyeglasses would cause consternation (at best).
Maybe I'd look for a clockmaker to see if I could get a job improving that technology and put my nearsightedness to use. Teach them about gears, ratios and springs. (I'm quite mechanically inclined.)

Then improve the lute and teach 'em how to rock and roll :-)
And start experimenting with firearms.

I think the actual outcome would be that I'd be dead of dysentery or cholera rather quickly. The King would eventually get my wristwatch. And my eyeglasses would be weighed against a duck to see if they were a witch....

1st thing--find a really big club...